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Ripped off by dealer?

I brought my car in to get the brake fluid changed. Are the Subaru's done differently from other cars? The reason I ask is when I got the car back I checked the bleeder valves & rubber cap and they were not touched. There was still dirt/mud caked on them and there were no signs of any tool being used to open the valves to bleed the lines.

You might just want to open a discussion with the dealer to find out what the order of operation is for changing brake fluid. They may have just siphoned out the fluid from the resevoir and put in new. I'd ask them first before disclosing your findings. (Oh, and take pictures of it right now.)

I brought my car in to get the brake fluid changed. Are the Subaru's done differently from other cars? The reason I ask is when I got the car back I checked the bleeder valves & rubber cap and they were not touched. There was still dirt/mud caked on them and there were no signs of any tool being used to open the valves to bleed the lines.

when I called the dealer to ask how they flushed the brake fluid, one dealer told me under his breath that in reality all they do is use a baster and remove all the fluid from the reservoir and replace it with new fluid. Kind of a scatty deal if you ask me.

If you took it in for a bleed/flush then I would be upset, but if you took it in for fluid replacement they may have done just that......but only a partial job for that matter. Id follow the above advice.

Using a baster certainly does not qualify as a fluid flush! I would like to know what he charged you for this.

The whole point in changing the fluid is to make sure there is no moisture inside the lines or wheel cylinders or calipers as this promotes rust or failure.

Now if you are actually having a flush done, are you going to a silicone fluid?

I myself have never changed the brake fluid in a car unless I was doing a system rebuild or converting to silicone.

Is it recommended?

I have seen some of the Instant oil change places change transmission fluid by using suction to siphon it out the dipstick tube instead of pulling the pan. This of course changes the fluid, but what about the filter?

Changing the brake fluid is recommended every 30,000 mile as part of your scheduled mainttenance. It should be done because brake fluid absorbes water. Water can cause rust an corrosion. Enough water in the brake fluid can boil during braking causing brake fade.

Subarus recommended procedure for this is to have one person open the bleeder screw, have an assitant depress the brake pedal, first guy closes the bleed screw, assitant releases pedal, repeat untill fuild comes out clean. This is the abbreviated version, but you get the idea.

So if the dealer doesn't want to pay two techs to properly flush the brake system, or they haven't heard of a vacuum bleeder, then they may very well just be sucking fluid from the reservoir and refilling. If so.........you are getting ripped off, yes.

You can buy "one man" bleeders which have a one-way valve, but I imagine they are a massive PITA, and it's much easier and quicker with 2. Even for a dealer or mechanic I imagine it would be quicker for 2 people to complete the job in less that half the time that it takes for one with the one man bleeder.

I picked up an old electric vacumn pump from a doctors office, it works like magic. I stick the ruber hose on the bleeder, turn on the pump and open the bleeder, I let it run untill the fluid comes out clean. The old fluid collects in a glass bottle. I think I saw something similar for sale on the Harbor Freight web site, if I can find it I will post it.

Thanks for all the replies. Yes I had the impression that I was getting a flush since changing just the fluid in the reservoir is lame. It was a while back (summer) and I paid around $100cdn! I'm just going to get someone to assist and bleed the fluid myself.

Brake Fluid Service does not equal a Brake Fluid Flush. When you take your vehicle in for a 30, 60, 90k service all they do is a brake fluid service. Subaru labor rate pays .5 hours for brake fluid service. Usually if a shop is going to do a true brake fluid flush they get an hour to 1.5 hours, unless they are replacing components like calipers or lines, then they reduce the cost.